5G—the next generation of "small-cell" wireless technology—promises to be much faster than anything we currently have, enabling all sorts of new commercial and military uses. As such, the Trump Administration has identified early US dominance in 5G as a national security priority. Unfortunately, there are also seemingly valid concerns about the potential health and environmental effects of 5G radiation that have not yet been adequately studied. While the scientific consensus

This was a painful one for me. Last academic year, Redwood High School instituted a new policy—without consulting the Town of Corte Madera—preventing students who park their cars on campus from leaving campus at lunch. The easily foreseeable result has been that students who want to drive to lunch spots off-campus began parking in the residential neighborhoods surrounding Redwood, including in Madera Gardens. Residents quickly found themselves unable to park in front of their

As the Vice Mayor of a small town, cybersecurity is one of my top concerns, and if it isn’t already, it should be one of yours too. Here’s why. Last year, Atlanta’s outdated computer systems were hacked in a massive attack that ended up costing the city more than $17 million to recover from. Baltimore was struck just months later, its poor cybersecurity costing the city $18 million. Then Greenville, North Carolina. Then Riviera Beach, Florida. The list goes on. In 2019, a foc

One of the central functions of local government is to maintain local infrastructure, especially the roads. To that end, we voted to award a $1,507,915 contract to Ghilotti Brothers (the lowest responsible bidder) for the 2019 Road Rehabilitation Project. The Project consists of repaving and improvements totaling 1.3 miles on Manzanita Ave., Sausalito St., Oakdale Ave., Buena Vista Ave., Eastman Ave., and Montecito Dr., and has been timed to occur after underground sewer work

The Marin Emergency Radio Authority (MERA) is a countywide organization that helps keep Marin residents safe by coordinating emergency calls and 911 dispatch. To accomplish these functions, MERA "rents" staff from various Marin agencies and municipalities. In February, MERA requested that Corte Madera consider leasing some staff to the organization. After a careful internal review, we determined that our staff has the capacity to help MERA, and that the payment to be gained f

We took the unusual step of authorizing the Public Works Director to award a contract for repairing parts of the High Canal embankment (which was damaged by storms in 2018) before any contractors had yet bid on the project. While we normally would not authorize the award of a contract without seeing the bids (and selecting the lowest responsible bidder) first, we decided to give the Public Works Director advance approval in this case because waiting to bring the bids back to